Backless garment



1949- 'c. cs. SCHNURER Q 2,479,416

BACKLESS GARMENT Filed May 25, 1948 (4201 m/ a. JZA/A UFLQ v r 1 NV EN TOR.

AT O N V Patented Aug. 16, 1949 amen.

BACKLESS GARMENT Carolyn G. Schnurcr, New York, N. Y. 1 Application May 25, 1948, Serial No. 28,978

2y Claims. (Cl. 2-67) he pres nt inv nti n relates to. a lady's'ba kless. arment, and, mor pa i u ar mi a ackl ss garment for outer wear, of the type used in sports activitie or for sunning oneself, such as bathing suits, sun dresses and the like.

, The, wearing of backless garments of the charothe de crib e ents a r b em to. o en particula ly to t se who a e c u omed. t or require th userof a brassiere, for the reason that the wearing of a brassierewith such garments A make the wearers back unsightly because of the untidy appearance of the exposed brassire portions and for the, further reason that it, covers a part of the back to defeat, at least in part, the

'purpose of the garment. On the other hand, the

omission of a brassire leaves the front of the weareirs body unsightly. because of the lack of a proper contour and uncomfortable because of the lack of adequate bust support.

While in the case of certain backless garments of the character described, such as bathing suits, an endeavor has been made to solve the foregoing difficultiesw-ith built in brassiere portions, such attempt at solution has been found inadequate even'ifor such garments and totally inadequate for dresses or the like, for the reasons that will obviousto makers and wearersof the garment ik g j "It is the object of the present invention to provide backlessgarments of the character described,;for women, which will provide ample and adequate support and contour tor-the bust, without the use of any brassire, either separate or built in.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a backless garment of the character described in which the bust supporting means are adjustable to the requirements of the individual wearer.

It is also an object of the present invention to provide a backless garment of the character described in which the tendency of the garment to gap away from the body at the sides will be reduced and which is otherwise neat and attractive in appearance.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a backless garment of the character described which is relatively simple and econmical to produce and which is easy and convenient to use.

The foregoing and other advantages and superlorities of the backless garments of the present invention will become more readily apparent to those skilled in the art from the embodiment thereof, in the form of a bathing suit, shown in the accompanying drawings. It is to be'undcrstood, however, that such embodiment is shown by a of; illust ation on y; t m k th princip es an practice. f hei vention mor rea i com.- P eh nsi le; d without ny ent f miti the .invent nt he s cific. detai s he in shown- I thcdr wi s i I a ew in ro t elevation of a bathin s t embo t presen nv n ion, shown as o n n h body; r

2 is i e elevational v ew of the. same; and Fig. 3 is a fragmentary, enlarged, plan View of t e o po t n o t a men show inFies. 1 and 2 showing structural details thereof. J 1

Re n mo e pecifi a to thee-companying drawings the bathing s'uit lshowngasan illustrati mbod men of h pre en nvention, com es a .lQWer por io H n m s n -the lower portionof the body, on all sides, up to. about the waistline thereof, and an upper portion l2 extending from the waistline upward, which is backless, tapering toward the front to. covereonly the front of the wearers, body. V

The top portion [2 maybeformed with breast rec iving cups Or pockets [3 which may be shaped,

as by the suitably placed darts t4, inlarnanner readily understood by those-skilled in the. r It will alsofbe readily understood that the cups 13, although accommodating the breastswill not up or h m t a y, egree-nor p ovi e them:- sired contour therefor. 1 V A The top sectionlz is provided with an approxi; mately v shaped neckline l5 terminating at the top in shoulder points It, to one of which may be secured or formed integrally therewith the neck band l8 having the eyes l9 defined by the eyelets 20 at its free end. The other point 2| may have secured thereon a hook 2| for engagement with a selected eye l9 to provide adjustable means for securing the top of the garment on the body, to suit the individual wearer.

The neckline I 5 may also be formed with a downwardly directed notch or recess 23 at its base. Bands or belts 24 extend from the opposite edges of the recess 23, preferably continuously with the edges of the neckline Hi. The bands 24, which are oppositel directed, in a diagonally downward direction, cross one another over the recess 23 and are of suflicient length to be passed each under the pocket, or cup, I 3, on the opposite side of the garment, to outline and support the breast nested therein, and to be passed around the side of the wearer, to reduce the tendency of the garment to gap at that point, and to cross one another at the back of the garment and to be brought forward to the front thereof for interengagement with one another, to keep them in proper position. The interengagement between the bands 24 at the front of the garment may, preferably, be adjustable, and may also comprise the eyes 25 with eyelets 26 at the end of one band, and a cooperating hook 21 fixedly or adjustably secured to the end of the other band 24.

This completes the description of one embodi ment of the present invention. It will be readily apparent that the invention provides, by simple and economical means, a backless garment which V is readily adjustable to the individual wearer; which provides the desired contour and ample and adequate support for the wearer's bust; in which the bust supporting means is adjustable to the needs of the individual wearer; in which gaping at the sides of the garment is reduced to a minimum; and which is otherwise neat and attractive in appearance and easy and convenient to wear.

It will also be apparent that numerous variations and modifications in the garments of the present invention may readily be made by any skilled in the art, in accordance with the principles of the invention hereinabove set forth and without the use of any inventive ingenuity. I

desire, therefore, to be protected for any and all such variations and modifications that may be made within the spirit of the present invention and the scope of the claims hereto appended.

What I claim is:

1. In a ladys garment, an upper front portion having apair of breast covering sections, each of said sections having upwardly converging edges forming-shoulder points, the contiguous edges of said sections forming a downwardly converging neckline, the further edges of said sections ex tending diagonally downwardly along the sides and meeting approximately at the waist line to form'a substantially backless garment, a neck b and secured at one end to one of said shoulder points, means at the free end of said neck band securing one to the other, said breast receiving sections having a vertically extending separation formed between them along their upper portions opening into the neckline at approximately the center of the garment front, a relatively narrow band continuous with the marginal portion of the neckline edge of each of said sections, said bands extending in opposed directions across the front wardly converging neckline, the further edges of said sections extending diagonally downwardly along the sides and meeting approximately at the waist line at the back to form a substantially backless garment, a neck band secured at one end to one of said shoulder points, means at the free'end of said neck band and the other of said and other of said shoulder points for detachably shoulder points detachably secured one to the other, said breast receiving section having a vertically extending separation formed between them along their upper portions opening into the neckline at approximately the center of the garment front, a relatively narrow band continuous with the marginal portion of the neckline edge of each of said sections, said bands extending in opposed directions across the front of the garment, cross- -ing at the separation, in a diagonally downward direction adjacent the bottom of the shaped portions of said breast covering sections, said bands each being of a length to extend diagonally around the sides and back of the garment and to' the front thereof for interengagement of its free end with the free end of the companion band.

CAROLYN G. SCHNURER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENT Number Name Date 1,231,011 Glasgow June 26, 1917 1,865,029 Martz June 28, 1932 2,110,056 Robbins Mar. 1, 1938 2,337,810 Glick Dec. 28, 1943 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date I 527,838 Great Britain Oct. 17, 1940 

